CVE-2016-3098 in administrate
Summary
by MITRE • 08/05/2022
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in administrate 0.1.4 and earlier allows remote attackers to hijack the user's OAuth autorization code.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/05/2022
The CVE-2016-3098 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting the administrate framework version 0.1.4 and earlier. This vulnerability specifically targets the OAuth authorization code handling mechanism, creating a pathway for remote attackers to exploit user sessions and potentially gain unauthorized access to protected resources. The flaw resides in the application's failure to properly validate and authenticate cross-site requests, particularly those involving OAuth authorization flows that are fundamental to modern web application security architectures.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from inadequate protection mechanisms within the administrate framework's authorization code processing. When users initiate OAuth authorization requests, the framework should validate that these requests originate from legitimate sources and are not being manipulated by malicious actors. However, the vulnerable version fails to implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or referer validation checks, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to originate from authenticated user sessions. This weakness directly violates the fundamental principle of request authenticity verification that is essential for maintaining session integrity in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it specifically targets OAuth authorization codes which serve as critical access tokens for third-party applications. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to intercept and reuse authorization codes, potentially gaining access to users' sensitive data, performing unauthorized actions on their behalf, and compromising the integrity of the entire OAuth ecosystem. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because OAuth authorization codes are designed to be short-lived and secure, making their compromise especially damaging to user security. This flaw undermines the trust model that OAuth protocols are built upon, potentially affecting numerous applications that rely on the administrate framework for their authorization infrastructure.
Security practitioners should implement multiple layers of mitigation for this vulnerability, beginning with immediate framework upgrades to versions that address the CSRF protection gaps. The implementation of anti-CSRF tokens, proper referer header validation, and secure session management practices are essential defensive measures. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their OAuth implementations to identify similar vulnerabilities in related systems. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and corresponds to attack patterns documented in the ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation and credential access techniques. Organizations must also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring solutions to detect and prevent exploitation attempts, while ensuring that all authentication flows are properly validated against known attack vectors and that security controls are regularly updated to address emerging threats in the evolving cybersecurity landscape.